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Horse manure
Justin Doherty2
Posts: 205
in Fruit & veg
Hi all,
Can anyone tell me if adding horse manure to raised beds would be beneficial for planting fruit/veg?
Thanks,
Justin
0
Posts
If it's been stacked for a while and allowed to rot down it'll be fantastic.
If it's still 'fresh' then stack it yourself and let it heat up and rot down over the summer and use it to mulch the beds in the autumn - or add it in layers to your compost heap - it'll help make fantastic compost.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
When we had a Livery Yard in the Uk, I used to hold one muck heap back a year and grow potatoes in it, plus tomatoes and courgettes. The fresher heaps would be spread on the veg patch and flower borders in the Winter as a mulch. The old heap would be warm but not hot enough to burn the crops. Now no longer have horses, Friendly farmer gives me rotted cow dung and I have a big mound next to the compost heap and grow tomatoes in it. Brilliant.
We can collect us much horse muck as we want from a local Livery, great stuff put loads of it on the veg plot last autumn. We dig out the crumbly black stuff from the back of the heap which is ready to go. Fresh stuff tends to burn the plant leaves, I think I read it is the ammonia being given off that is the problem with fresh poop.
Thanks for this information, I have horses so have plenty access to horse poop lol! Couple years back when i had the horses at my house (i was the talk of the neighbour hood lol) i just put some under every plant, but did wonder what the proper thing to do was, so now i know, I'm now trying to figure out a way to make space for a small composter.... If anyone is near Inverness i can supply them with a life times supply lol!
Manure is fine for planting out plants from a pot but we do not recommend using it if you are planting bare rooted fruit plants. It can be used as a top dressing at a later date but it is best to use muck that is a good few years old.
www.deaconsnurseryfruits.co.uk
Justin - you could make 'Road Apple Stew' (or soup) aka liquid manure if it is still too fresh and not rotted enough - just put a few handfuls or 'horse apples' in a big bucket / container and add 2 or 3 gallons of water (maybe some of your own golden water too) give it a good stir and leave for a few days, stirring occasionally - this can then go to beds or into soil as 'stew' (so thick and sloppy) or strained through a pillow case / old shirt / tights etc to produce just liquid - not too strong though but if adding to soil, should be fine - if using on plants with leaves etc, water down so it looks like weak tea then the nitrogen etc is not too strong - I am putting a very basic composter together tomorrow (out of scrap wood) just to store / rot horse manure in (alongside my kitchen / garden composter) - the only drawback to horse manure can be that it sometimes creates weeds as often, seeds are passed straight through a horse (unlike cow manure) but hey, the weeds seem to do okay on their own and they have to be dug up anyway
If it's fresh, could I mix it with normal soil?
Yes but unlike cow & pig manure (which is wetter) horse tends to be 'apples' straw and wood shavings so much drier - the 'apples' when fresh may be too concentrated and do harm - the 'apples' need breaking down & spreading about - best way is to soak them and they disintegrate - having said that, I suppose mixing with soil and then a good dig / rake would probably be OK especially if you're not planting for a few weeks
Thats what i did, i layered the bottom of my big planter in horse manure, tehn top soil and left for about 6 months, then dug all out and mixed, and then planted bulbs in layers - Soil seemed to be far better quality, now waiting to see the results and see which bulbs will come up
Sorry being dim but...
If horse manure is fresh, soak it and apply as R.A.S.
If left for a year can be applied straight onto beds.
If older can be mixed into the soil.
Is that a correct summary?
I am going to be getting as much as I can collect from a friend and just deciding where to apply it!